Dear friends, welcome to this unit
where we will be discussing about Implant Placement
with simultaneous Guided Bone Regeneration.
This is a technique that is very helpful
especially in the anterior maxilla,
and we will use our examples in this region.
As we know, every time we lose a tooth,
we're actually missing much of the surrounding tissues.
The most pronounced of this loss
is actually the loss of the alveolar bone, which
shrinks the dimensions we have to place an implant
in both height and width.
the implant is placed usually six to eight weeks
after the extraction.
In this time,
we have achieved only the closure of the soft tissues,
but of course, not any healing of the bone.
And therefore, the key is
whether we have enough bone to support the implant
and give us primary stability, or not,
because if we do, then we can continue
with the Guided Bone Regeneration.
If not, we will have to consider other
two stages augmentation procedures.
Cone Beam CT,
a 3-dimensional radiographic representation
will be very helpful.
I would recommend to take the Cone Beam CT
with radiographic splint.
That means that we prepare a radio-opaque
imitation of the crown that we're about to replace.
We place it in the position it should be with the splint,
and then we make the Cone Beam CT.
That will give us a very good representation
of the prosthetic component we're trying to recreate
in relation to the existing bone.
And of course, this way, we can estimate much better
where an implant should be placed,
and if this would be possible.
Another interesting tip is to make your Cone Beam CTs
with lip or cheek retractors.
This way, the lips will not collapse on the alveolar ridge
and you will be able to visualize much better
the oral mucosa, or the gingiva
surrounding the alveolar ridge.
These images that you see here came from a
publication by Januario et al.
and the radiographic image on the left
is without retractors;
on the right is with retractors.
You can see how a high-resolution Cone Beam CT
can give us a good understanding
of the soft tissue anatomy as well
when we retract the lips.
So, once we have the Cone Beam CT
and we have our radiographic examination,
then it's time to go in detail through all the slices.
There are three major things we have to look at
in this Cone Beam CT slice.
We have, of course, to look at the height,
that we have enough height to place an implant,
usually in anterior maxilla,
because our primary stability, the good-quality bone
is in the apical direction,
we might need to use longer implants,
maybe 12 millimetres long, or so.
The second thing is to see if we have the width
throughout these 12 millimetres
to surround an implant fully in-bone.
And of course, we have to also
scan for the relation of anatomic structures
such as the incisal canal
which might interfere with our placement.
So, talking a little bit about the height,
in an ideal case, we have enough height
to support our implant and width.
If we only have enough height
but not enough width throughout this height
so we have a palatal wall
and maybe mesial-distal but we were missing the buccal,
this is an ideal case for Guided Bone Regeneration.
Now in the case where we don't have height
and we don't have the width,
then this is when we should consider other
staged augmentation procedures.
Ideally, we want to have our implant
fully imbedded in the bone.
So we want to have at least one millimetre,
maybe even two millimetres, if possible
on each side of our implant.
That will be the ideal case.
But it's not the only scenario.
It might be also other favourable scenario.
For example, like we see in this image,
we are missing some part of the bone,
so some part of our implant is exposed.
But the critical thing here is that
the exposed part of the implant is actually smaller
than the diameter of the implant.
In this scenario, we can still get primary stability
from the surrounding bone,
and we can replace the missing bone
with the augmentation.
But there would be also some unfavourable scenario.
And this is mainly when the exposed area of the implant
is wider than the implant diameter.
In these cases,
we are very unlikely to get primary stability.
So if the dominant anatomic condition
belongs to this category,
then probably, we have to consider
a staged augmentation.
So as a rule of the thumb,
it all boils down to try to evaluate
how much of the surrounding bone
belongs to the ideal or the favourable condition,
and how much of the surrounding bone
belongs to the unfavourable condition,
and then decide if this will be a good case for GBR.
My rule of the thumb usually is
to divide the implant in three segments:
A, which is the coronal part;
B, which is the middle third;
and C, which is the apical third.
Then I will go back to my Cone Beam CT
and I will see for each of these
three segments of the implant
what is the dominant anatomic condition.
So if A or B or C, so at least one of your three segments
is in the ideal anatomic conditions,
that means fully surrounded in the bone,
I think then we can get enough primary stability
and recreate the remaining missing tissues
as long as we have the bone height
at least in one wall.
Now, if A and B and C,
they all belong to the favourable condition
where the exposed part of the implant
is smaller than the implant diameter,
then we can still get primary stability
and good conditions for placing the implant,
and we will recreate the remaining bone
with the GBR technique.
However, if A and B and C,
they belong to the unfavourable conditions,
then this is when we should consider
a staged augmentation, or maybe a Block Graft.
Let's see very, very briefly
some of these in clinical applications,
and then the rest you will be able to see in the detail
in our procedural videos.
In this particular case,
we have a big buccal defect,
the implant is placed,
and the whole coronal segment belongs
to the unfavourable bone condition.
It's exposed quite a lot.
Nevertheless, the two other segments
they're fully imbedded in the bone;
this is a very good case for a GBR.
So once we achieve primary stability,
we will cover the implant surface with bone chips
from the neighbouring bone and our grafting material.
Cover everything with the barrier membrane
and this case, leave the implant for healing
through the mucosa.